Data center moratorium excludes ongoing project in Boyd County
Boyd County Fiscal Court in Kentucky approved a six-month moratorium on new data centers, but explicitly exempted the EastPark Industrial Park. This exemption leaves TeraWulf's planned 1-gigawatt Muskie Data Campus unaffected and has drawn significant criticism from a local resident concerned about transparency and infrastructure strain. Neighboring Greenup County has also enacted a similar moratorium.
The Boyd County Fiscal Court unanimously approved a six-month moratorium on new data centers and data storage facilities within its jurisdiction. The ordinance, passed on July 9, temporarily halts new construction and development, but notably excludes the EastPark Industrial Park.
This exemption means the planned TeraWulf Muskie Data Campus, a more than 1-gigawatt artificial intelligence and high-performance computing data center, remains unaffected. The industrial park, which spans Boyd and Greenup counties, is jointly owned and governed by multiple counties, a factor cited by Boyd County Judge-Executive Eric Chaney as a reason for supporting the exemption.
However, a member of the public strongly criticized the exemption, calling it a "profound contradiction" and an "admission of guilt." The resident accused county officials of bypassing public notice and debate, raising concerns about the potential strain on regional infrastructure, household utility bills, and the water table from such high-intensity projects. Hunter Boyd, executive director of the Northeast Kentucky Economic Development Authority, noted that Greenup County has also approved a similar moratorium.